Northerners would benefit -- Montreuil
| Fact File |
| Creators of the Alternative Federal Budget, Healthy Families: First Things First, suggest the federal surplus, possibly as much as $100 billion over the next five years, should be invested in federal programs damaged by cutbacks in the first half the of the 1990s. |
| The document is the sixth annual edition and is released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and CHO!CES: A coalition for social justice. It is released prior to Federal Finance Minister Paul Martin tabling of the nation's budget, which is due soon. |
| Economists who create the AFB say business lobby's proposed tax cuts -- reducing or eliminating capital gains tax, raising the RRSP contribution limit, eliminating high income surtax and lowering top marginal tax rates -- would benefit the rich. |
| The AFB's suggestions on new spending amount to $6 billion to restore eligibility for employment insurance benefits and $1 billion for an atmospheric fund. |
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 07/00) - When it comes to the alternative federal budget, it is not carried in the traditional new briefcase, nor are its presenters wearing symbolic new shoes.
In fact, there's little fanfare compared to what happens on Parliament Hill.
Despite the lack of fiscal drama associated with the alternative budget, the document continues to be produced annually.
Last Tuesday, the sixth edition was released across Canada. Known as the AFB, it incorporates a "people first value system" and is constructed by about 100 economists commissioned by labour, church and environmental groups.
"This year's AFB is just as good, just as caring and just as important as those which have gone before it," Ben McDonald, co-chair of social advocacy group Alternatives North.
"Residents of the North stand to benefit significantly from all the national social investment funds contained in the AFB.
"This is particularly true of the measures in the AFB targeted at reducing poverty," Alternatives North member Suzette Montreuil said.
According to Montreuil, the latest available data indicated that 43 per cent of Northerners earned less than $20,000.
Reinstating funds cut from income support and reducing taxes for low income families -- proposals in the AFB -- would benefit a large number of low-income families in the North, she said.
The North could also benefit from the AFB's proposed $2.2 billion for construction of new social housing units, Montreuil said.
Another benefit to the North is the creation of a Northern Heritage Fund.
"We see this as an economic development fund for community-based economic development," Montreuil said.
Drafters of the AFB propose half of what the federal government gets in resource revenues from the North should go into this fund.
As for taxes, the AFB favours tax reform to assist low-income earners, but it does not support tax cuts favouring the rich.
